Pipe cleaner



Oct. 27 1925.

E. A. THORNTON PIPE CLEANER Filed May 27, 1924 I WITNESSES IN VENTO; Erneai' uZT/mr'n on nrromvsvs Patented Oct. 27, 1925.

UNITED STATES ERNEST A. THORNTON, OF VALENTINE, NEBRASKA.

PIPE CLEANER.

Application filed May 27',

To all 407mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST A. THORNTON, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Valentine, in the county of Cherry and State of Nebraska, have invented a new and Improved Pipe Gleaner, of which the following is a description.

My invention relates to a cleaning device for smoking pipes and particularly to an assemblage of and cleaners adapted to be inserted in the pocket of a coat or vest and fastened in position, the assemblage comprising cleaner elements suited to the different operations involved in cleaning a pipe and loosening the tobacco in the bowl.

The general object of my invention is to provide a casing and a cleaner element assemblage in which either of the cleaner elements may be projected forwardly beyond the casing and make them available for given operations.

Another object of the invention is to provide a casing and cleaner assemblage in which the casing is formed with a disk at the front end to scrape off any matter adhering to the cleaner elements to prevent the entrance of such matter to the casing, a more specific object being to provide an arrangement in which any matter scraped from the cleaner elements will be retained in a recess in the front end of the casing, so as not to soil the fingers or coat or vest to which the assemblage is fastened. 7

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, it being understood that the drawings are merely illustrative of one example of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pipe cleaner assemblage embodying my invention with the cleaner elements within the casing;

Figure 2 shows the casing in longitudinal section with the cleaner elements in side elevation;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the cleaner device as employed for clearing the smoke orifice establishing communication between the bowl and the integral stem section thereon, the pipe bowl being in section;

Figure lis a pers ective view of a fragment of the cleaner device as employed for clearing the pipe stem shown in section.

In carrying out my invention in accordance with the illustrated example an elongated casing 10 is provided, advantageously cylindrical, Said casing in practice is 1924. Serial No. 716,231.

equipped with a clip 11 to hold the device to a pocket after the manner of a fountain pen or pencil. The casing is formed with a longitudinal slot 12 and with a second shorter slot 18;

Disposed longitudinally of the casing is a cleaner element 14L in the form of a comparatively stiff rod orwire and a second cleaner element 15 in the form of a flexible wire or strip. The element 14; has at the rear end thereof a lateral headed pin 16 extending through the slot 13 to the exterior of casing 10 and a similar lateral pin 17 is provided on the rear end of the flexible cleaner element 15 and passes transversely through the slot 12 so that said pins 16, 17 are accessible at the exterior of the casing for giving longitudinal forward or back movement to either of the elements 1 1 and 15. The element 15 has at the front end thereof an enlarged head 18 preferably ovate and the front end of the cleaner element 1 1 is oppositely bevelled as at 19.

In the casing 10 slightly rearward of the front end is a transverse disk or partition 20 having holes through which the elements 1 1, 15 extend. In front of the disk 20 the casing 10 presents a recess 21.

With the above described device either eleincnt 14 or 15 may be projected to the desired extent beyond the front end of the easing 10 by the user takingihold of a pin 16 or 17. The element 14 is useful for loosening tobacco in the bottom of the bowl or as indicated in Figure 3 it is particularly efficient in clearing the smoke orifice which establishes communication between the bowl A and the integral stem section thereon. Similarly, the flexible element 15 may be projected beyond the casing 10 and as shown in Figure 4 passed through the mouthpiece or stem a of the pipe for cleaning the same. When the element 14 or 15 is again withdrawn into the casing 10 after the cleaning of the pipe bowl or mouthpiece, the disk 20 will serve to scrape off adhering matter from the cleaner element and such matter will be retained at the front of the, disk 20 and within the recess 21, so that such matter will not soil the fingers in manipulating the device nor soil a vest or coat at the pocket where the device is placed and fastened by means of the clip 11. The slot 13 is not made as long as the slot 12 because the cleaner element 14 does not need to be projected to the sameextcnt as the element 15 for performing its functions and the shorter slot limits the forward movement of said cleaner element 14- to maintain the same in rigid relation to the casing, wh'ereasrthe element 15 needs to be projected to a considerable extent and its flexibility is availed ofin the ilmctioning of the device.

I would mention that the rearward movement'of the elements 145 and is limited by the engagement of the pins 16, 17 with the I easing at-the rear ends of the slots 12 and '13 sot-hat the front extremities of the elements 14, 15 can not pass rearwardly throue'h the partitionQO, which would make "tlifi icult the forward P1'O3GCUOI1 of .the

cl aner elementsthrough the partitionQO and beyond the-casing 10.

I would state in conclusion that while the illustrated example constitutes apractical embodiment of my invent-ion, Ido not limit myself strictly toathe exact detailsherein illustrated, since, man1fcstly, the same can.

- be considerably varied without departure from the spirit of'the inventionas defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A pipe cleaner assemblage comprising a casing, a plurality of cleaner elements disposed longitudinally in the casino, said casing ha-x inglongitudinal slots and having a partition slightly rearward of the front end through. which partition said cleaner elements extend, andmeans on the cleaner elements available fromthe exterior of the easing for movingthe same forward or back to project'the elements beyond the casing or to withdraw the same within the casing, the rearward movementof said cleaner elements being limited to prevent-the movement of the- .front ends of the cleaner elements through the partition, said partition constituting a scraper device to remove matter from the cleanerrelements and said casingpresenting a recess in front of said partition.

ERNEST AI THORNTON. 

